After completeing his undergraduate degree Nigel worked for five years as a conservator in the Palaeontology Conservation Unit of The Natural History Museum, London. The two main projects that he was contracted to assist with were the conservation and redisplay of a large collection of scientifically and historically important Jurassic marine reptiles, and the preparation, conservation, mounting and installation of fossil material and casts for the new dinosaur gallery which opened in 1992. During this time he learnt a great deal about the conservation of natural history specimens and the care of museum collections. He also gained a Master of Science degree in Vertebrate Palaeontology at University College London. In general his duties and responsibilities included: undertaking relevant preparation and remedial and preventive conservation of all types of palaeontological material; the replication of fossil and sub-fossil material in a variety of media for display, research or generating income; the installation of fossil and replica specimens into new exhibitions; responding to emergency conservation needs; and providing conservation advice to staff of the Palaeontology Department and Exhibitions Department.

After working there full time for five years his project-funded contracts came to an end, but he still works for the Natural History Museum in a freelance capacity. He has assisted the Engineering Section of the Exhibitions & Education Department in mounting and installing geological material in the new "Earth Galleries" exhibition, assisted in installing the travelling Kokoro robotic dinosaurs, and has helped to organise major palaeontological excavations abroad (as site manager) for the Natural History Museum on several occassions.

Nigel's next major contract was to manage the West Runton Elephant Conservation Project for Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service. This was externally financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund. He was responsible for designing and implementing the remedial and preventive conservation strategies, and the curation, of the West Runton Elephant and associated fauna (several hundred very important sub-fossil Pleistocene specimens). This included creating a new lab facility, managing staff and volunteers, creating temporary displays, delivering talks to the public, attracting funding, creating risk assessments, curating the material, casting replicas for research purposes, testing materials and publishing conservation research. Other departmental duties included: Advising the Museums Service and general public on geological and palaeontological conservation and general natural history conservation, conserving and installing specimens as part of the £12million Norwich Castle Museum Redevelopment Project (HLF funded), advising on and undertaking some of the preventive and remedial conservation of the geology collections and other natural history collections; identifying geological specimens; undertaking collections surveys; undertaking training of staff and public in conservation issues; and installing and maintaining various environmental monitoring systems.

After the West Runton Elephant Conservation Project was completed, Nigel became the Curator of Geology for Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service, which was by then the Hub Museum service for the whole of the Eastern Regions. This position involved further experience in remedial conservation and preventive conservation projects, curation, documentation, conservation assessments and rasising funds (including an award with colleague Martin Warren of more than £100,000 from the Designation Challenge Fund)

Nigel has now worked as a conservator in National Museums and Regional Museums Services for over 16 years. He has also undertaken a variety of short contracts, voluntary fieldwork and freelance work during this time. As well as Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service and the Natural History Museum, he has worked for the BBC and Channel4, worked in the Antarctic with the British Antarctic Survey for a season and was site manager for fieldwork in Gibraltar for a month each year for four years, excavating neanderthal remains with The Natural History Museum.

Recently he has also undertaken conservation work for the Abu Dhabi Islands Arcaheological Survey, the Oxford Archaeological Unit, Kent County Council, The Norfolk Archaeological Unit, Bradford University's Department of Archaeological Sciences , Durham University's Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Somerset Museum, Bedford Museum, Dorset Museum, Birmingham Thinktank and various individuals with private collections.

He has worked as excavator and site conservator on some internationally important excavations in recent years including: the famous Swanscombe site in Kent; Happisburgh and Pakefield, possibly the oldest hominid sites in the whole of North and West Europe found on coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk; a new site at Norton Subcourse shedding light on a hitheto unknown warm period in the early Pleistocene; and the very best Neanderthal site ever to have been found in the UK (at Lynford, Thetford Forest) which he discovered together with John Lord.

Publications:

· Displaying dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum, London. Lindsay, W., Larkin, N. and Smith, N. (1996). Curator, The Museums Journal, 39/4.

· Plastic containers: a comparison. Larkin, N., Makridou, E. and Comerford, G. (1998). The Conservator, 22.

· Comparing gap-fillers used in conserving sub-fossil material. Larkin, N. and Makridou, E. (1999). The Geological Curator 7 (2), 81-90.

· Using experimental studies of recent faecal material to examine hyaena coprolites from the West Runton Freshwater Bed, Norfolk, England. Larkin, N., Alexander, J., and Lewis, M. (2000). Journal of Archaeological Science 27, 19-31.

· Analysis of volatile organic compounds in plastic containers used for museum storage. Larkin, N., Makridou, E. and Blades, N. (2000). The Conservator, 24.

· Conservation of Late Miocene Fossils in Abu Dhabi. Larkin, N., Chapter 4 in "Abu Dhabi 8 Million Years Ago: Late Miocene Fossils From the Western Region". Editors: Mark Beech & Peter Hellyer, ADIAS 2005. ISBN 9948-03188-1.

· "Out Of Eden: The Eden Project Companion". Contributing author. Published by Eden Project Books, 2005. ISBN 1-903-91926-6.

· "Art at the Rockface: The Fascination of Stone in Art". Moore, A.W. and Larkin, N. (2006). Published by Phillip Wilson, 2006. 96pp.

· "Art at the Rockface - making an exhibition on the fascination of stone". Larkin, N. and Moore, A.W. (2006). Deposits, issue 5, 34-37.

· "Art at the Rockface - making an exhibition on the fascination of stone" . Larkin, N. and Moore, A.W. (2006). The Magazine of the Geological Association, Vol. 5, No. 2, June 2006, p16-17.

· "The earliest appearance of Norwegian indicator erratics in the glacial succession of Northeast Norfolk. Hoare, P.G., Larkin, N.R. and Connell, E.R (2006). Quaternary Research Association Bulletin

Grants personally secured from external sources:

· 1997. MGC PRISM (Preservation of Industrial and Scientific Material) Grant Fund: £20,000 towards the cost of an assistant palaeontological conservator for the West Runton Elephant Conservation Project.

· 1998. MGC Partnership Project Grant: £2,000 towards a conservation research project "Study of seal integrity and material degradation of polyethylene and polypropylene containers" (research undertaken with Gillian Comerford of the Natural History Museum's Palaeontology Conservation Unit.

· 1999. MGC PRISM Grant Fund: £20,000 towards conserving the varied collections of Norwich Castle Museum's Natural History Department prior to their removal to another location.

· 1999. £2,500 in SEMS Grants towards the West Runton Elephant Project.

· 2004. £100,000 from the Designation Challenge Fund to document the geology collections of Norwich Castle Museum (with Martin Warren, Collections Manager, NMAS).

· 2004. £100,000 from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation’s Regional Museums Initiative funding programme for the 2006 exhibition "Art at the Rockface" (with Andrew Moore, Senior Curator of Art, NMAS).

· 2006. For the Norman Peake Documentation Project (to assess and document over 3,000 recently donated echinoids): £5,000 from the PRISM Grant Fund; £1,700 from the Geologists' Association Curry Fund; and £2,000 from the Friends of Norwich Museums.

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